Responsibility to Express
A study of local and international organizations working on human rights in Israel-Palestine
Lene G. Espelund
Noragric, Department of International Environment and Development Studies Master Thesis, 60 credits, 2012
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Lene G. Espelund
Responsibility to Express
A study of local and international organizations working on human rights in the Israel-Palestine situation
Noragric
The Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB)
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The Department of International Environment and Development Studies, Noragric, is the international gateway for the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB), which includes eight departments, associated research institutions and the Norwegian College of Veterinary Medicine in Oslo. Established in 1986, Noragric’s contribution to international development lies in the interface between research, education (Bachelor, Master and PhD programmes) and assignments.
The Noragric Master thesis are the final thesis submitted by students in order to fulfill the requirements under the Noragric Master programme “International Environmental Studies”,
“International Development Studies” and other master programmes.
The findings in this thesis do not necessarily reflect the views of Noragric. Extracts from this publication may only be reproduced after prior consultation with the author and on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation contact Noragric.
© Lene Espelund, May 2012
Noragric, Department of International Environment and Development Studies P.O. Box 5003
N-1432 Ås Norway
Tel.: +47 64 96 52 00 Fax: +47 64 96 52 01
http://www.umb.no/noragric
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Declaration:
I, Lene Espelund, declare that this thesis is a result of my research investigations and findings.
Sources of information other than my own have been acknowledged and a reference list has been appended. This work has not been previously submitted to any other university for award of any type of academic degree.
Date: 10 May 2012
Signature: ………
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Abstract:
The study “Responsibility to express” seeks to answer the question “How can local and international organizations contribute to the realization of a greater number of human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” The objectives are: “To emphasize how the organizations work to progressively implement or achieve the selected human rights and how they choose what to focus upon”; “To examine what could be achieved with human rights work”; and
“To analyze how freedom of expression plays a role for local and international organizations working on human rights”. Participants interviewed and observed are the Israeli organizations Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence and Amnesty International Israel; the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and the Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy; and the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, and Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. The field work was conducted in Jerusalem August-October 2010, and in Hebron September-December 2011. The organizations focus on the military occupation; the separation barrier, military checkpoints and permit system; demolition of Palestinian houses and building of Israeli settlements; and the use of violence and arrests. The organizations work on collecting and providing information by observing, documenting and reporting on the issues they focus on.
Israeli organizations focus on the Israeli policies in the territory, and Palestinian organizations focus on internal issues in the Palestinian society and the occupation. The international organizations work on human rights violations related to the military occupation and the behaviour of the Israeli and Palestinian governments. The organizations meet internal challenges within the organizations, and external challenges related to the society and political situation. The goals of the Israeli organizations are to provide information and contribute to debate about the occupation. The goals of the Palestinian organizations are to focus on human rights internally in the Palestinian society and the Israeli occupation. The local organizations aim to influence the civil society, while the international organizations aim to influence the behaviour of the Israeli and Palestinian governments in addition to the grass root level. All organizations aim to influence both locally and internationally. Freedom of expression is important organizations working on human rights and the responsibility to express is the motivation behind observing, documenting and reporting on the situation. This study shows that local and international organizations work to provide information, knowledge and experiences to create awareness locally and internationally to contribute to the realization of a greater number of human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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Acknowledgments:
I am very grateful to all the participants for their willingness to share knowledge, experiences and dedication by spending time with me and participate in the research. I admire these people for their engagement with human rights work and the situation in Israel-Palestine. This project has not been possible without your contributions. I am very thankful to my advisor, Bill Derman, for always being there, and for answering questions and giving advises I did not always understand but knew that I should listen to and I have done my best to follow. Thank you for not giving up on me. After my first visit in the Middle East in 2007, there was so much I would like to understand and experience and it became a part of my life. The last years there haven’t been many days without thinking, reading, writing and talking about the Israel- Palestine situation. Thanks to the Freedom of Expression Foundation in Oslo for allowing me a stipend to do research in Jerusalem. Thanks to the Norwegian Church Aid for accepting me as a participant in the EAPPI program. Thanks to the Norwegian Trade Union College for providing academic and personal freedom for me to spend time in the Middle East. This project has been a journey of experiences, impressions and reflections. Thanks to my family and friends who have showed support and interest on the way! With gratitude and respect for all people who have been involved and have contributed with thoughts, words and actions – no one mentioned, no one forgotten. All mistakes are solely my responsibility.
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Preface:
Unfortunately, it was paradise?
The Middle East – this area is famous and notorious and so often in the spotlight. There is so much to believe, think and say. There are many realities, important stories, contradictory opinions and strong emotions. It is a journey through holy land and occupied territory. The Holy Land is boiling and bleeding, and the passion for the land has captured people in violence and oppression. Jerusalem and Hebron are cities that are united in name, but divided in the hearts and minds of the peoples. When rocks and land in Jerusalem and Hebron become holier than people, then don’t these places lose their holiness? It is possible to share in a way that protects human lives and preserves the holiness, but there is a lack of willingness to respect each other's ties to the land. This land is magical and tragic at the same time. There is fear, suspicion and hatred – and faith, love and hope.
An eyewitness gets knowledge and impressions about events through its own impressions and senses – to see, hear, smell, experience and feel. By observing, documenting and reporting, eyewitnesses can provide testimonies with words and pictures of what one has experienced, with a promise of telling its own truth – which is a part of writing the history. It shouldn’t be possible to say that it didn’t happen. When I'm here, I don’t know what to believe – I think everything but know nothing. For my own conscience, I know that I was here...
“The Middle East has become a useless case in my opinion, which I consider as paradise.”
Lene Espelund Jerusalem, April 2012
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Table of content:
Declaration: ... IV Abstract: ... V Acknowledgments: ... VI Preface: ... VII
1 Introduction ... 1
2 Literature review ... 2
3 Study area ... 10
4 Methodology ... 12
5 Introduction of the local and international organizations ... 21
5.1 Machsom Watch - Women against Occupation and for Human Rights ... 21
5.2 Amnesty International, Israel ... 22
5.3 Breaking the Silence... 25
5.4 Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, PHRMG ... 26
5.5 Middle East Nonviolence and Democracy, MEND ... 28
5.6 TIPH, Temporary International Presence in Hebron ... 29
5.7 OHCHR, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ... 31
5.8 EAPPI, Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel ... 32
6 Results of the interviews and participant observation ... 33
6.1 Human rights and human rights law ... 34
6.2 Information from interviews with organizations: ... 42
6.2.1 How do the organizations work and which activities are they conducting? ... 42
6.2.2 Which human rights issues are the organizations focusing on? ... 47
6.2.3 Which goals do the organizations want to achieve, and who do they influence? ... 55
6.2.4 Which challenges do the organizations meet in their work? ... 62
6.2.5 What are the organizations’ successes and results of the work? ... 67
6.3 Information from participant observation with EAPPI in Hebron ... 73
6.3.1 Activities, tasks and areas of responsibility ... 73
6.3.2 Observations, stories and experiences in Hebron: ... 78
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7 Analysis of human rights work by organizations in the Israel-Palestine situation ... 91
7.1 To emphasize how the organizations work to progressively implement or achieve the selected human rights they focus on. ... 92
7.1.1 Human rights organizations work on information and communication ... 93
7.1.2 Military occupation – the situation in the West Bank ... 101
7.1.3 The separation barrier, military checkpoints and the permit system ... 113
7.1.4 Demolition of Palestinian houses and building of Israeli settlements ... 130
7.1.5 Use of violence, detentions and arrests ... 142
7.2 To examine what could be achieved with human rights work. ... 147
7.2.1 Goals the organizations want to achieve and who they aim to influence. ... 148
7.2.2 Challenges the organizations meet in the work ... 152
7.2.3 The organizations’ results ... 155
7.3 To analyze how freedom of expression plays a role in human rights work and its importance for local and international organizations in the conflict ... 159
7.3.1 Reflections on freedom of expression by the respondents ... 167
7.3.2 Freedom of expression is a key factor in human rights work ... 167
8 Conclusions ... 175
9 Literature list ... 179
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1 Introduction
The study “Responsibility to express” is an analysis of local and international organizations working on human rights in the Israel-Palestine situation. The research question is: “How can local and international organizations contribute to the realization of a greater number of human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” The data collection and analysis are focused on three research objectives: (1) “To emphasize how the organizations work to progressively implement or achieve the selected human rights and how they choose what to focus upon.” (2) “To examine what could be achieved with human rights work.” (3) “To analyze how freedom of expression plays a role for local and international organizations working on human rights.” Research methods used are interviews and participant observation.
The respondents are the Israeli organizations Machsom Watch, Breaking the Silence, and Amnesty International Israel; the Palestinian organizations, the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group and the Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy; and the international organizations the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH), the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights in the occupied Palestinian territory (OHCHR), and the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). The field work was conducted in August-October 2010 and September-December 2011.
The structure of the thesis is first to present the study area, the Israel-Palestine situation and Jerusalem and Hebron where the research was conducted. The research methods of interviewing and participant observation are presented. The literature review presents the literature used in this study. Then the organizations and persons involved are introduced based on information from the interviews and documents about the organizations. The results chapter defines human rights and human rights violations, and presents the results of the interviews and observations according to the research questions. The analysis chapter discusses the results and information of interviews, observations and literature. The issues the organizations focus on in their work are the military occupation; the separation barrier, military checkpoints and permit system; demolition of Palestinian houses and building of Israeli settlements; and the use of violence, detentions and arrests. These issues are connected to human rights and discusses if and how human rights are violated. The relations between freedom of expression and human rights work and its importance for organizations doing this work are discussed. The conclusion summarizes the text and answers the research questions.
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2 Literature review
Achieving Human Rights; Richard Falk, 2009:
This book covers democratic global governance, ‘the power of rights and the rights of power’, orientalism and international law, global democracy, international criminal law, the Holocaust and international human rights, and human rights after 9/11. Chapter 2 about democratic global governance and chapter 3 on orientalism and international law are relevant for the research and analysis in this study. Chapter 6 which discusses the Holocaust and the emergence of international human rights is interesting when analyzing the human rights situation in Israel and Palestine. To discuss the connection between the Holocaust and international human rights is relevant when analyzing the human rights situation. The Holocaust is very important in many ways for the state of Israel, but human rights is looked upon as a very sensitive and difficult issue, and Israel receives a lot of criticism for the human rights situation in the occupied territories from the international community and the United Nations. Chapter 10 and 11 cover the rule of law looking into counter-terrorist justifications and humanitarian intervention. The chapter “Human rights after 9/11” is relevant when analyzing the human rights situation in Israel. The 9/11 has influenced the work and situation of human rights in Israel especially concerning the situation in the occupied territories. To merge the 9/11 challenge as a threat to security with the many pre-existing issues of unresolved resistance and self-determination struggles going on around the world is to denigrate indiscriminately the character of anti-state movements, and to authorize oppressive of governments to rely on suppressive violence seems useful in defending the status quo.
Bosettere på hellig grunn (”Settlers on Holy Land”); Hanne E. Røislien, 2006:
This book about the Israeli settlers in the West Bank covers the settlers and settlements in the occupied territory. The first chapter is ‘Israel is writing the map; why there are Jewish settlers in East Jerusalem and the West Bank’. The second is ‘Settlers on payment; about secular settlements’, the third is ‘Exile; about the Jewish nationalists of the West Bank’. The fourth chapter is ‘Volunteering with God; conversation with a rabbi’, and the fifth is ‘Messiah’s foot soldiers; about cars, settlements, God and Arabs’. The sixth chapter is ‘Bloody reality; about weapons, hating Arabs, and de extreme settlers view on themselves’, the seventh is ‘Jerusalem protectors; about settlers in Jerusalem’s Old City and their fight for the nation’s honor’. The eight chapter is ‘Hilltop youths; about a new generation settlers, about children, violence and
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an angry Israeli peace activists’, and the ninth chapter is ‘Hebron; about civil disobedience, how a settlement is created and a holy city that loses its holiness’. This book is about Jewish settlers in the West Bank; men and women, old and young, religious and non-religious, nationalists, idealists, and people who most of all want a cheap place to live. What settlers have in common is that they live on occupied land. This book is about a group of people that by their choice of place to live have contributed to changing the map of the Middle East, and making friends or enemies all over the world. This book explains why these people choose to live in a place where they are hated by their Palestinian neighbors, despised by other Israelis, and heavily criticized in the international community. The settlers are not a marginal group;
today the settlers are dominating the map over the West Bank and East-Jerusalem and dominate the daily lives of 2.5 millions of Palestinians. The writer presents her own experiences and reflections from a period of eleven years travelling in Israel and the Palestinian territory. In this book, the Israeli settlers’ voices are heard and the stories and world views are presented.
Drømmen om Israel (”The dream of Israel”); Nils A. Butenschøn, 2006:
This book came in Norway in 2006. The part four of the book is called ‘What kind of state?’
The first chapter is ‘the State of Israel’ looking into the establishment and Israel and a nation state, the second chapter is ‘A Jewish state?’ and looks into the state of Israel as a theocracy, Jewish law against Israeli law, Jewish identity and nation, the state of Israel and the Jewish culture, the political face of Judaism in the state of Israel, and the third chapter is ‘A state for Jews?’ and looks into the state of Israel as a new Israeli nation, a sovereign and independent state, and Zionist ideology in Israeli law. The fourth chapter is called ‘A racist state?’ and looks into if Israel is a racist state. The book discusses the connection between the Jewish problem in Europe and the Palestine-problem in the Middle East, how Zionism is an answer to anti-Semitism, and what kind of nationalism Zionism is. The book discusses the causes of the establishment of the state of Israel as a Jewish national state; how is its relations to Judaism, to Jews outside the state and to the Palestinians, and discusses how the Zionist ideas contributed to the claims for a state for Jews in the land of Palestine, and the relationship between these visions and the state of Israel is today. The first edition came in 1984, and the second in 2006, when it created discussion because of the conflict in the Middle East in 2006.
4 Human Rights; Michael Freeman, 2002:
The book ‘Human Rights – An Interdisciplinary approach’ gives a basic and broad introduction and understanding of the human rights field. The chapter 1 ‘Thinking about Human Rights’ covers different thoughts about human rights as a concept, the social science approach to human rights, and the link between politics in human rights law in the social science way of thinking, understanding and using human rights. This chapter was relevant for my study because my research on human rights is in the field of development studies, and it was interesting to think about human rights in social sciences and not only in law. The chapter 3 about the period after 1945 ‘the new age of rights’ covers the UN and human rights in a UN context with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and how human rights have developed in theory and practice before and after the cold war. For my study this chapter was relevant because it approach human rights as the regime international human rights law developed with the establishment of the United Nations and theoretical and practical aspects of implementation of human rights. The chapter 4 on the role of social science looks into different fields of study such as political science, anthropology and international relations and the approach on human rights. This chapter was useful to develop my understanding of human rights and social sciences and to discover where to relate this study. I have background from political science and interest in human rights it was inspiring to read the chapter to see how to understand the relation between politics and law in human rights, and be able to discuss this connection which is relevant in the Israel-Palestine situation. The chapter 7 discusses the politics of human rights and looks into the role of NGOs in human rights, the national politics of human rights and NGOs in world politics. The conclusion in chapter 9 is reflecting the history of human rights, the objections to human rights, and problems of intervention. This book puts human rights in an academic context and was informative for researching organizations working on human rights issues.
Human Rights and Development; Peter Uvin, 2004:
This book introduces human rights debates of relevance to the development background and human rights in the practice of development; it discusses political conditionality with the history and difficulties conditionality, positive support with the practice and tools of positive support, and the relation between positive support and governance; and the rights-based approach to development. The first chapter covers human rights as a complement to development work. The text refers to the UNDP Human Development Report which describes the practical implications of ‘promoting rights in development’ which is to launch
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independent national assessments of human rights, align national laws with international human rights standards, promote human rights norms, and strengthen a network of human rights organizations. Chapter 6 about the human rights-based approach to development is particularly relevant for this study. The human rights-based approach is based on that boundaries between human rights and development disappear, human rights is a constitutive part of development and social change is rights-based and economically grounded. Human rights cannot be separated from economic and social improvement, and the process is as important as the aims and results. Deprivation and poverty is more than low income; lack of access to health and education, vulnerability, social inferiority, powerlessness and humiliation.
The human rights-based approach is connected to the Vienna Conference statements saying that all human rights are indivisible (cannot take one type of rights without the other), interdependent (one set of rights needs the other to be realized), and inter-related (all human rights relate to each other). Amartya Sen states that there are mutual links between freedom and development. The text discusses the vision of a rights-based approach as a framework for analysis and human rights as a process and political matter. The text discusses practical implications of a rights-based approach to development explaining the human rights machinery, capacity building, advocacy, and rule of law. This book states that international development actors need to engage in advocacy. For many development NGOs the human rights-based approach is attention to advocacy. A human rights approach implies looking at causes and policies, and advocacy is to speak out and to pressure for change; advocacy and campaigning are defining international human rights movement and seen as synonymous with human rights work. This is interesting in relation to that human rights work in the Israel- Palestine situation is much about information and advocacy.
Israel/Palestine. The Black Book; Reporters without Borders (ed.), 2002:
This book came in English translation in 2003. The book covers texts that are taken from documents produced by international human rights groups and edited by the international organization Reporters sans Frontières. This book redresses that human rights violations often go unreported in times of war. In Israel and the Occupied Territories there is an ongoing conflict that has killed many thousands and human rights abuses are common but the stories seldom reach the outside world. It provides an authoritative account of human rights violations that have taken place on both sides of the conflict since the start of the second Intifada in September 2000. These texts offer as objective an account as possible of the degradations that both Israelis and Palestinians have suffered. The reports are taken from
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groups including Amnesty International, the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights, the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Human Rights Watch, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, B’Tselem and Reporters sans Frontières. This book brings these abuses to public attention and is an important historical document, and shows what is going on in Israel and Palestine that will be of interest to politicians, NGOs, students and activists.
One state, Two states. Resolving the Israel/Palestine conflict; Benny Morris, 2009:
This book covers ‘the reemergence of one-statism’, ‘the history of one-state and two-state solutions’, and ‘where to?’ The chapter ‘the history of one-state and two-state solutions’ is the main part of the book and consists of different parts; first about the land covering the history of the area, the second is about the Jews and history of Zionism, the third binationalism, and the fourth is about two-statism. Chapter five, six and seven are about the Arabs, binationalism and partition. The eighth, ninth, tenth and eleventh chapter cover the 1960s, PLO and a two- state solution, the year 2000 and the second intifada.
Social Research Methods; Alan Bryman, 2008:
This book has been the main literature on research methods. Chapter 1 “Social research strategies”, chapter 2 on research designs, chapter 3 about research questions, chapter 4 on literature review, chapter 5 on ethics and politics in social research have been relevant for planning, developing and implementing the research project. Chapter 16 about qualitative research, chapter 17 on ethnography and participant observation, chapter 18 “Interviewing in qualitative research, chapter 20 on language in qualitative research, chapter 21 about documents as sources of data, and chapter 22 on qualitative data analysis have been very useful information about methodology, data collection and analysis of the material.
The Absence of Peace - Understanding the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict; Nicholas Guyatt:
This book from 2001 covers the topics greater Israel, Oslo, peacemaking and politics, life under Oslo, Jerusalem, the ‘permanent status’ of Palestine, and alternatives to Oslo. The first chapter covers Zionism and the creation of Israel, 1967 and its aftermath, the settlements, settlements and Israeli public opinion, the intifada, and the road to Oslo. The second chapter covers the declaration of principles, Rabin and Netanyahu’s relations to Oslo. The third chapter covers Israel in search of the ‘doves’, the Palestinians and Oslo, and the international community. The fourth chapter covers the permit system, detention and torture, land confiscation and house demolition, environmental and economic exploitation, and Gaza. The
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fifth chapter covers building Jerusalem, town planning, quality of life, permits and the ‘quiet deportation’, from settlements to suburbs, and sympathy and symbolism. Chapter six consists of the Oslo process, Palestine after the permanent status, and final solutions. Chapter seven covers the two-state solution, the one-state solution, and prospects for the future.
The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order; Samuel P. Huntington:
This book came in 2002, based on an article with the title “The Clash of Civilizations?” from 1993 published in the journal Foreign Affairs. This article created more discussion than anything they had published, according to the journal’s editor. In the article, Huntington posed the question whether conflicts between civilizations would dominate the future of world politics. In this book, he gives the answer, showing not only how clashes between civilizations are the greatest threat to world peace but also how an international order based on civilizations is the best safeguard against war. Since September 11, his thesis has seemed even more prescient and acute. “The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order” is recognized as a classic study of international relations.
The Globalization of World Politics 4 e; John Baylis, Steve Smith, Patricia Owens, 2008:
This introduction to international relations came in 2008. Chapter 29 ‘Human Rights’ covers rights in general, the liberal account of human rights, 1948 and the modern agenda, political and economic rights, and universalism challenged. This chapter explains the international human rights regime and examines problems associated with universal human rights, and starts with the liberal position on human rights and the politics of human rights protection as it developed since 1945. The chapter gives an overview over the history behind the concept of human rights as it is today, introduces the human rights declarations and conventions and discusses the post-1945 development of the human rights regime. The text relates political and economic rights and looks into the different generations of human rights tradition, and looks at development, poverty, freedom and the right of self-determination. The text discusses the aspect of universalism in human rights; ‘the universal spread of best practice in human rights matters is in the interest of all people’ and the challenges this thought meets in theory and practice, for example the Vienna Declaration on Human Rights which stated that ‘the significance of national and regional particularities and various historical, cultural and religious backgrounds’. This text explains and discusses the international human rights regime. The book is important for understanding historical issues, the role of human rights in world politics after 1945, and challenges connected to human rights in the world today.
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The Palestine–Israeli Conflict; Dan Cohn-Sherbok and Dawoud El-Alami, 2006:
This book came in 2006. The concept of this book is that it is written by two authors, one Israeli professor and one Palestinian professor, and the book is divided in two parts; one Israeli and one Palestinian. The first part is the Jewish perspective, which consists of ‘the Zionist movement’, ‘beyond first world war’, ‘the Jewish state’, ‘the Six-Day war and its aftermath’, ‘the road to peace’, and ‘before and after September 11’. The Palestinian perspective consists of ‘the origins of modern Palestine’, ‘Palestinians, Jews and the British’,
‘towards the establishment of a Jewish state’, ‘Arabs and Jews’, ‘towards liberation’, and ‘the wall’. In the last chapter, the two authors comment on and debate each other’s texts.
The Shift. Israel-Palestine from border struggle to ethnic conflict; Menachem Klein, 2010:
This book from 2010 consists of five chapters; ‘Historical and Theoretical Background’, ‘A Complete Israeli Victory?’, ‘The Settlement-Security Symbiosis’, ‘The Israeli Control System’, and ‘The Changing Pattern of the Conflict’. The first chapter covers the new phase in the old conflict, and the control systems, ethnocracy and apartheid. The second chapter covers the Palestinian Authority’s financial and operational dependency. The third chapter covers the development and cost of the settlements, settlement expansion after 2000, Jerusalem in focus, institutional collaboration, the social profile, and the IDF’s dilemma. The fourth chapter covers the principles, the controlling of movement, Palestinian groups, and methods of rule. The fifth chapter asks ‘back to 1948?’ and covers colonial practices in the service of an ethno-security regime, and asks ‘from a two-state solution to a one-state problem’. This book is interesting and relevant for this study because the book is quite new and includes statistical facts and numbers and especially the focus on settlements and the control system are interesting which is relevant in an analysis of the human rights situation.
The United Nations and Changing World Politics; Thomas Weiss et al., 2007:
This book about international relations and the UN came in 2007. Chapter 5 covers the United Nations, human rights, and humanitarian affairs and looks into theory, rights and basic norms in the UN. Chapter 6 ‘The United Nations and Applying Human Rights Standards’ covers the security council, the general assembly, international criminal court, office of the secretary- general, the high commissioner for human rights, the commission on human rights, the human rights council, and rights and development. Chapter 7, ‘Change, the United Nations and Human Rights’, looks into raisons d’etat, nonstate actors, and theories of change.
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The Humanitarian Impact on Palestinians of Israeli Settlements and other Infrastructure in the West Bank; The UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, 2007:
This report by the UN OCHA is from 2007 and examines the humanitarian impact on Palestinians from the construction of settlements and other Israeli infrastructure in the West Bank. The report demonstrates how roads linking settlements to Israel, in conjunction with the system of checkpoints and roadblocks, have fragmented Palestinian communities from each other. OCHA and World Bank reports the last years have underlined the fact that freedom of movement for Palestinians is crucial to improving humanitarian conditions and reviving socio-economic life in the West Bank.
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/TheHumanitarianImpactOfIsraeliInfrastructureTheWestB ank_Intro.pdf
The Impact of the Barrier on Health; UN OCHA and WHO (West Bank and Gaza), 2010:
This report was issued in 2010. The report summarizes the main findings while outlining developments since the last report on the barrier. OCHA has been monitoring and reporting on the humanitarian impact of the separation barrier on Palestinian communities in the West Bank since 2003. This report focuses on the impact of the Barrier on health, in particular access to the specialized medical facilities only available in East Jerusalem.
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_special_focus_july_2010_english.pdf
West Bank – Movement and Access; United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the occupied Palestinian territory, 2010:
This report from 2010 provides data and analysis on the main trends concerning the system of internal movement and access restrictions in the West Bank between April 2009 and March 2010. Measures implemented by the Israeli authorities reduced the travel time between most urban centers thus improving access to services and livelihood. However, no significant improvement took place in the access of Palestinians to land and communities behind the Barrier, including East Jerusalem. The Israeli settlements constitute the single major factor configuring the system of movement and access restrictions in the West Bank.
http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/ocha_opt_movement_access_2010_06_16_english.pdf
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3 Study area
The Middle East and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
After World War I, the Ottoman Empire was defeated by the British Empire and partitioned into separate nations, initially under British and French Mandates. In the 20th century, The Middle East became important because of oil, and it was an area of ideological struggle during the Cold War. The Middle East is the center of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and the region is economically, politically and religiously sensitive. At the United Nations, the documents about the Middle East are concerned with the Arab–Israeli conflict, in particular the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The Middle East is home to several ethnic groups and both Palestinians and Israelis are people originating in the region. The Jews have been spread throughout Europe and the Middle East. The Jewish immigration to Palestine began in 1882 as a result of Zionism in Europe. The Balfour Declaration opened for an establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In the following decades, there was conflict between the Palestinians who lived there and Jewish settlers who claimed land. Jewish militant groups used weapons against the British administration and the Palestinians, and Arab forces interfered in the conflict on the Palestinian side. Jewish immigration continued after the Second World War.
The British government withdrew from the mandate and handed it over to the United Nations.
In 1947, the UN recommended that Palestine should be divided in two parts – one for Jews and one for Arabs. This was accepted by the Jews, while the Palestinians did not support the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. In 1948, the Jewish nationalist movement and Zionist leadership established the State of Israel. Europe's bad conscience made the establishment of the state easier. Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria went to war with Israel in 1948, and when the war ended in 1949, Israel controlled a land area that was 21%
larger than the UN partition plan had proposed; Egypt took Gaza and Jordan annexed the West Bank. In the Six Day War in June 1967, Israel expanded its land by capturing Gaza and the Sinai desert from Egypt, the West Bank with East Jerusalem from Jordan and the Golan Heights from Syria. 700 000 Palestinians were displaced in the territories taken over by Israel and collected in refugee camps in Gaza and the West Bank and in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
About one million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza came under Israeli rule.
The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) was formed in 1964, led by Yasser Arafat. The demand for statehood was reinforced in 1987 when the first intifada (uprising in Arabic)
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broke out in Gaza and the West Bank. In 1994, Palestinian self-government was established as a result of the Oslo Accords. The Oslo-agreement was an interim agreement that would be the foundation for a peace agreement. Israel and the PLO agreed that a Palestinian state should be created during a five-year period and in the meantime, the Palestinian Authority should have autonomy in certain areas. The Palestinian Authority should control the A-areas, the major cities in the West Bank. In B-areas, the PA has civilian control while Israel retains military control. In the C-area, 59% of the West Bank, Israel remains in control. The Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish extremist in 1995. Rabin's successor Benjamin Netanyahu was far less willing to compromise. Meanwhile, Palestinian factions started suicide attacks against civilian targets in Israel. The second Intifada started in September 2000; Palestinians committed suicide attacks and the Israeli army re-occupied West Bank and Gaza. During the 2000s, the situation gradually deteriorated with violence and failed negotiations. Israel started building the separation barrier and expanded settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The separation barrier has been condemned by the UN and the International Court of Justice, and the settlements are illegal under international law.
After 2007, Fatah controls the West Bank, while Hamas is in power in Gaza. During the 2000s, several negotiations didn’t lead to a solution. In 2005, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew the Israeli army and the settlers from Gaza, but Israel retained in control. Hamas and militant groups in Gaza responded by firing rockets into southern Israel. In December 2008, the fragile cease-fire ended and Israel started an extensive military attack on Gaza.
Israel has fought several wars, the borders are still controversial. On the other side, the Palestinian Authority works on a state-building project to become an independent state.
Jerusalem is historically important, and has great significance for Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Western part of Jerusalem is a part of Israel, while East Jerusalem is recognized by most countries as part of the occupied Palestinian territory. Jerusalem is the heart of the conflict, and the Old Town is the most controversial square kilometer in history with holy places such as the Jewish Wailing Wall, the Holy Sepulchre, and the Dome of the Rock.
Hebron is the largest city in the West Bank; about 600 000 Palestinians and about 500 Israeli settlers in the old city. The Patriarch’s cave in the Old City is a sacred to both Jews and Muslims. In the Oslo-agreement, Hebron city was divided in two parts, one under Palestinian Authority and the other part under Israeli military control.
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4 Methodology
Research objectives
This is a study of human rights work and freedom of expression in the Israel-Palestine situation, with the title “Responsibility to express”. The research question is: “How can local and international organizations contribute to the realization of a greater number of human rights in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?” I want to explore and discuss how local and international organizations work on human rights issues in the Israel-Palestine situation, and how human rights work can contribute to the improvement of human rights in this conflict. I want to discover what local and international organizations focusing on human rights want to achieve, who they want to influence and which goals they aim to achieve. I also focus on how the freedom of expression is related to human rights work. This study is focused on three research objectives: “To emphasize how the organizations work to progressively implement or achieve the selected human rights and how they choose what to focus upon”;
“To examine what could be achieved with human rights work” including goals, influence, challenges, successes and results; and “To analyze how freedom of expression plays a role, and its importance, for organizations working on human rights”.
Research design and research methods
The research design of this project is cross-sectional which entails a collection of data on several cases at a single point in time in order to collect information related to variables.
Cross-sectional design can be used to examine relationships between variables but not reveal a causal relationship; the variables are examined to detect patterns of associations when several cases are examined to encounter variation in the variables (Bryman 2008: 44). This study discovers and discusses the work by local and international organizations focusing on human rights issues human rights in the Israel-Palestine situation. The research includes interviews and participant observation with local Israeli and Palestinian organizations and international organizations working in this area. The field work took place in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem and Hebron between August 21 and October 23 in 2010. The research also includes participation with the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) in Hebron from 11 September to 7 December in 2011.
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Qualitative research methods during the field work
Semi-structured interview
Semi-structured interview as source of information can be a social interaction which is structured by both the researcher and the informant. The researcher has a list of topics and questions that should be covered, but the interview can be like a conversation with a balance between non-structure and structure. The researcher doesn't ask identical questions to all participants, the questions don't necessarily come in the same order for each interview and the conversation can go freely. There are different ways of asking questions; leading and non- leading questions. The non-leading questions are relatively open and encourage the informant to talk about a particular topic, but they don't have to give a specific data or a yes/no-answer.
The interviewer using non-leading should be an active listener and needs to be aware of how the interview is developing, structure it when needed, and clarify if something is unclear (Hammersley and Atkinson 1996: 178). When conducting interviews, I had an interview guide with questions and topics that I wanted to cover during the conversation, questions were asked with a quite similar wording but the order of the questions and topics varied. The process is flexible and the emphasis is on how the participant understands and frames the issues, and the respondent is free in how to replay and what he views as important in explaining and understanding (Bryman 2008: 438).
The context of the interview was formal in the way that the meetings were arranged with time and place and it was only the informant and me participating in the conversation. I had the interview guide with topics and questions to talk about, notebook and pen, and my recorder.
I wanted the interview to be a structured but free conversation. My main role was to be an active listener, and to bring up new questions and topics when relevant. I marked the questions they answered in the interview guide and I organized the other topics to ask them in a logical order. The interviews were like a conversation more than a question-and-answer situation. I wanted to cover all the questions I had prepared and related issues that came up during the conversation. For this reason I didn't ask the questions the same way or in the same order to all the respondents. Sometimes the respondent commented that the question was too wide and I reframed the question to narrow it. I used more direct or specific questions when I wanted to clarify something that they had already said, if I was confused or if I wanted to highlight certain opinions and statements. Sometimes the participant asked me questions
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about my perspectives and experiences and I engaged in the conversation. Non-verbal communication like eye contact, body language and verbal response are important to participate in the conversation. I let the informant take small pauses when needed, either silent or I contributed verbally by repeating what they had already said, asking follow-up questions or introducing new issues. When asking questions, I used open and non-leading questions. I wanted to get as much information as possible and the informant should feel free to say what he or she wanted. I recorded all the interviews so I could focus on my role as an active listener, thinking about what the person was saying and responding with relevant follow-up questions or prepare the next topic I wanted to introduce. The context of the interview was informal because I wanted to create a setting which was relaxed and comfortable to make it easier to talk. The informants also contributed to a friendly environment. Some of the meetings took place at public places such as restaurants and some meetings were at the person's office. Israel and the West Bank are geographically small and it is relatively easy to travel around, but it is a low intensity-conflict where the security situation must be taken into consideration when travelling around and meeting people. It is important to meet the person with respect and interest and I used my personal and professional background and experience in the area to connect with people. When introducing me and the research it was important for me that the respondents understood that I was interested understanding their perspectives and personal aspects of their engagement. I recorded all the interviews and they were transcribed afterwards. Recording and transcribing is a good way to listen to and read the interviews several times, and to ensure the validity referring to facts, information and perspectives, and quote correctly. All the interviews were conducted in English. I did one interview with each organization, during the period 21 August – 23 October 2010.
Participant observation
Participant observation is a structured research methods strategy aimed to gain close familiarity with a group of individuals through involvement with people in their natural environment. Participant observation is usually undertaken over an extended period of time.
The access to a social setting that is relevant to the research problem can be either open or relatively closed (Bryman 2008: 403). Participant observation entails extended involvement of the researcher in the social life of those that are studied. This is a method where the researcher is immersed in a social setting, makes regular observations of the behavior of members of that setting, listen to and engages in conversations and interviews informants on
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issues that are not directly amenable to observation (Bryman 2008: 402). With an overt role, the researcher needs to negotiate access to make people’s lives objects of study. Participant- as-observer is a role where members of the social setting are aware of the researcher’s status as a researcher and the researcher interacts with people in their daily lives and the researcher relies on informants for understanding issues. The researcher obtains detailed information with observation and interaction; details can be observed and interpreted and the researcher can discover discrepancies between what participants say should happen and what actually does happen (Bryman 2008: 410). Information is collected by being present at events and participating in activities, observing and documenting, talking to people in informal conversations or interviews for specific purposes. Field notes are important sources of information and are written based on observations and need to specify facts of what is observed and heard, and include summaries of events and the researcher’s reflections.
I participated in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI) 11 September – 7 December 2011. I used the 'participant-as-observer' method as an Ecumenical Accompanier in Hebron participating in activities and interacting with people for three months. The research method for collecting information was an ‘open role in a public setting’. My role as a researcher was known amongst the people involved. Participant observation involves a range of methods for data collection, such as informal interviews, direct observation, participation in the life of the group and individuals, discussions, analyses of personal documents, results from activities, and life-histories from participants.
Ecumenical Accompaniers (EAs) accompany people who are affected by the conflict, and provide protective presence in vulnerable communities, show solidarity with church communities, and cooperate with local and international organizations, and participate in peaceful activities against the occupation. Ecumenical Accompaniers are wearing distinctive vests to make sure that the accompaniers are recognized in the society. All places and activities I took part in are accessible without being a participant in the EAPPI, but because the role as observers and the program is well-known it was easier to be present at activities and communicate with people. In Hebron, the tasks were monitoring at military checkpoints, providing protective presence Palestinians who are threatened by Israeli settlers and/or soldiers, documenting house demolitions, participating in peaceful activities against the occupation and cooperating with local and international organizations. I wrote field notes with key words and facts, people’s statements, and personal reflections after observation and
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participation in activities and conversations. EAs write reports on human rights violations and other incidents that are taking place, these are sent to UN-organizations. The EAPPI uses local contacts as sources of information, and cooperates with local Palestinian and Israeli organizations and international organizations such as the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross. EAs observe, document and report, and do advocacy work and communicate through media and network to spread information about the situation.
Finding participants
To find participants, I used a non-probability form of sampling participants; the method of purposive sampling. The goal of purposive sampling is to select units that have a direct reference to the research objectives and sample in a strategic way so that the research participants are relevant to the research questions. There should be a variety in the resulting sample, the participants differ from each other, and the researcher needs to be clear about the criteria for being included. The units of the sample are selected because of their relevance to understand a social phenomenon. The selection of informants doesn't need to be representative, the goal is to collect information and document perspectives from persons that have relevant information and are willing to share that information (Bryman 2008: 415).
I have been in interested in the Israel-Palestine situation since my first visit in Jerusalem in 2007. I have done research to learn about the history, the political situation, the societies and cultures in the region to understand different aspects of the reality in this very complex situation and provide empirical experiences with theoretical information. I read books and articles, watch movies and documentaries and read newspapers and websites. As a teacher in international politics and history, I am giving lectures on the Middle East and the Israel- Palestine situation. I have attended several seminars in Norway concerning topics related to human rights, freedom of expression, and the Israel-Palestine situation. The last years I have been travelling there several times and I have experienced many situations and met a wide range of people in Israel and the Palestinian territory; people in refugee camps, shop owners, taxi drivers, activists and academics in many local and international NGOs and UN- organizations, professors and students at universities, local and international journalists, politicians and diplomats, and soldiers and officers. When collecting data it is an important decision how to choose the participants of interviews and observation. When developing the
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research project, I found people and organizations that I knew from before and discovered new organizations and persons from reading books, local newspapers and websites and talking to people in my network. When I arrived in Jerusalem, I contacted the organizations, institutions and persons, presenting me and the research project and asking for a meeting. The organizations I conducted interviews and participant observation with are:
Machsom Watch - Women against Occupation & for Human Rights: I had heard about this organization observing at military checkpoints during previous visits. The word 'machsom' in Hebrew means 'checkpoint'. I did interview with member Roni Hammerman in her home in Jerusalem 31 August, and observation at checkpoints 3 September and 12 September 2010.
Amnesty International Israel: With Machsom Watch, I met a woman from Amnesty International Germany who recommended contacting Vered Cohen-Barzilay, communication officer in Amnesty Israel. I met her at the office in Tel Aviv, 13 October 2010.
Breaking the Silence: I have met the organization on earlier visits and seen it on documentaries. I participated on a guided tour to South Hebron Hills, 15. September 2010.
MENVD; Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy: I read about the institution when preparing the field work and I thought it would be interesting to get to know the organization.
I knew Adel Ruished at the Al Quds University from before and he is board member of MENVD. I interviewed him at Jerusalem Hotel in East Jerusalem, 30 September 2010.
PHRMG; Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group: I found the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group on a list of NGOs in Palestine, and I read about them and decided to contact the director. Director Bassem Eid was very positive to participate, and we had a meeting at Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, 20 September 2010.
TIPH; Temporary International Presence in the city of Hebron: During previous visits in the area, I had visited Hebron and met with the TIPH. I contacted one man working there, he told me to send my questions on email and he would arrange a meeting. I was allowed to record the interviews but I had to promise that the information was only for the master thesis since information from their reports is confidential. I did an interview with the senior legal officer, Stefan Waespi from Switzerland, at the headquarters of the TIPH in Hebron, 26 August 2010.
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OHCHR; Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights: I was very interested in meeting with the OHCHR in the occupied Palestinian territory because of their importance and international mandate to work on human rights. A man working for UNRWA gave contact details to the head of office at OHCHR in the oPt. I met Matthias Behnke from Denmark at Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, 11 October 2010.
EAPPI – Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel: During the field work in autumn 2010, I got familiar with the EAPPI-program. I got more information about the mission and work of EAPPI and really wanted to be a part of the program at some point. I applied to the Norwegian Church Aid to participate in the EAPPI program and was approved.
From September 11 to December 7 in 2011, I was an Ecumenical Accompanier in Hebron.
Additionally, I conducted interviews with Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, director of the Palestinian Academic Society for the Study of International Affairs in Jerusalem, 28 August 2010. I participated in a demonstration against house evictions in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, 4 September 2010. I had a meeting with the Right to Education Campaign at the Birzeit University in Ramallah, 8 September. 28 September 2010, I had meeting with Minister Counselor Vebjørn Dysvik at the Royal Norwegian Embassy to Israel in Tel Aviv, and I had a meeting with the Norwegian Representative Office to the Palestinian Authority in Al Ram, 4 October 2010. I participated on a guided tour with the Israeli Committee against House Demolitions in Jerusalem, 4 October 2010. I conducted interviews with the Peace Research Institute of the Middle East, 23 September at the West Bank office in Beit Jala, Bethlehem, and the Israeli office at the Kibbutzim College of Education in Tel Aviv, 18 October 2010. In November 2010, I went to Geneva to meet Kevin Turner, Human Rights Officer at the Middle East and North Africa Section in the UN OHCHR.
Registration of data
I recorded the interviews on a digital recorder. I wanted to cover all details in the conversation and didn't trust my ability to make detailed notes. I assumed the interview would be better if I could have eye contact with the respondents and be an active listener. I had the interview guide and I wrote reflections and comments during the conversation to structure the interview and prepare the next question. I wrote field notes from the participant observation with time, place, actors, activities, observations, thoughts and reflections during the activity or as soon as possible afterwards. Field notes are important to place the data descriptively and analytically.
19 Research ethics
Research ethics is important to take into consideration in social research when it comes to doing field work and data collection. Ethical considerations involve being aware of how to treat the people, who we conduct research with and which activities to engage in or not.
Aspects to reflect on are whether there is being done harm to participants, whether there is lack of informed consent, whether there is being done an invasion of privacy, and if there is involvement of deception (Bryman 2008: 118). It is important to show respect for the participants and take into consideration that people are working on sensitive issues. It was important for me interact with Israelis, Palestinians and internationals. I asked for permission from the participants to record the interviews, and they all approved. All respondents approved that I could use their real names in the thesis.
Analyzing the data material
The data analysis is based on the strategy ‘constant comparative method' by Glaser and Strauss (1976) (Hammersley and Atkinson 1998: 241). The social world and its categories are built up and constituted through interaction; the world is constituted as people talk it, write it and argue it (Potter 1996: 98; in Bryman 2008: 20). Ontological consideration is based on constructionism saying that social phenomena are social constructions (Bryman 2008: 21).
The data analysis is an integrated part of the research process; the analysis is a part of the researcher's thoughts and ideas and starts with the field work when formulating research questions, and analytical notes and comments, and continues to writing the report in the end.
There is an interactive process between analysis, research strategy and data collection, and the aims to form descriptions and find explanations. Before the field work, I developed the interview guide; prepared questions and topics that I wanted to ask during the conversations.
These steps are a part of the process of analyzing the data material because it influences what information is collected. I listened to the recorded interviews several times and when they were written I printed them and read them several times. The information from participant observation is based on field notes. Data from different sources is verbal descriptions; field notes, transcription of interviews, recorded files, movies and documents. I read the interviews and field notes to find connections across the data and find what would be relevant and interesting to elaborate in the discussion. To analyze the data material, facts and information were divided in categories to identify strategies for interaction. I made categories by dividing the information in different categories related to the chosen questions and topics and then I
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relate the answers from the participants into these categories by systematically relating the interviewees’ answers, information in each interview, to the same research objective, questions and related topics. In the constant comparative method, the process is to explore the data within each category and note differences and similarities between the respondents’
answers with the goal of understanding the data, find importance in categories and explore relations to other categories in the analysis, which give new perspectives and knowledge.
The aim is to explore and see how the material looks in relation to what was expected, in the literature and theories, and if it is possible to find variation between different perspectives, opinions and actions. The information from the interviews with the local and international organizations and the information from the participant observations are presented differently because the data material appeared differently. Related to the question “How do the organizations work and what kind of activities are they conducting?”, I found statements of each respondent. The respondents are given voice in the same order; first the three Israeli organizations, then the two Palestinian organizations and the international organizations. I compared the categories of information to find similarities and differences between what the respondents’ answers, comments and statements. Information is presented in original order under each objective. I discuss the content of the answers from the participants in the different categories to find relations, structures and associations. The patterns of variations are discovered already when listening to the interviews and reading the field notes and comments after observations, and also thoughts about how it can be explained appear during this process. I wanted to see the relationship of similarities and differences between the interviewees to analyze the content of the material I had collected. I found additional information in literature to support the information from the interviews. For example, when I discovered that the organizations focus on the separation barrier and checkpoints, it is relevant to provide more information about these policies and research that have been done on the issues from other actors. I connect theoretical aspects and personal reflections to analyze the content of the data material with the aim of finding explanations to why someone is saying one thing and others something else to the same question, and see the pattern of association between the different variables, the questions and topics of the categories, and the different respondents. Based on the information, I found articles in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights related to each topic and discuss if and how the issues the organizations focus on are human rights violations.
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5 Introduction of the local and international organizations
5.1 Machsom Watch –
Women against Occupation and for Human Rights 1Machsom Watch was established in 2001. The Israeli organization consists of female peace activists against the Israeli occupation of the territories and the “systematic repression of the Palestinian nation”. Machsom Watch calls for “Palestinian freedom of movement within their own territory” and for an “end to the occupation that destroys Palestinian society and inflicts grievous harm on Israeli society” (www.machsomwatch.org/en/about-us). Machsom Watch observes at army checkpoints on roads in the West Bank, the Jordan Valley and along the Separation Fence. The women stand at checkpoints observing the behavior of soldiers and Palestinians (www.machsomwatch.org/en/daily-reports/checkpoints). Machsom Watch observes in military courts where Palestinian citizens living in the West Bank are subject to military laws. These proceedings are normal for the Palestinians in the occupied territories but are unknown to the Israeli public (www.machsomwatch.org/en/daily-reports/military-courts).
Roni Hammermann is a retired librarian, previously working in the central library for social sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. She has been a member of Machsom Watch since the beginning. “I joined this organization because I always was involved in human rights issues, and I grew up in a very political home”, she says. During the first intifada, from 1987 to 1993, they were a group of women working on the issue of minors who were arrested and put in prison. The first intifada was “the stone throwing intifada, and many children were arrested on their way from school because they were throwing stones. They were taken and brought to the police prison and very often their parents had no idea where they were, they didn’t bother to call the parents, so we were trying to get information about this and visit them”, she explains. Some of the youths were only 12-13 years and they didn’t know what to do and how to behave. The women went to the courts and tried to get Palestinian lawyers to take up the cases. The organization Machsom Watch was established in 2001. Roni tells that they read “very puzzling and worrying reports about human rights violations at the checkpoints. We had no idea what these checkpoints are, and where they are, and why they
1 Interview with Roni Hammermann in her home in Jerusalem, 31 August 2010